[squeak-dev] Compatibility (was some other subject...)

Ian Trudel ian.trudel at gmail.com
Mon Jun 29 07:24:24 UTC 2009


2009/6/29 Stéphane Rollandin <lecteur at zogotounga.net>:
>> So what? Some people keep using even older images.
>
> well thank you for driving me out. I guesss I just have to shut up now.

Don't be so dramatic, Stéphane. Your opinion is all right and worth
one voice. As everybody else here. =)

There are frustrations in regard to the constraint of backward
compatibility. It is greatly increased by the fact that we have
limited set of test cases to ensure our changes don't break anything.
And we don't have an official API to lean on as well...

Moreover, the community should ask the question on how important the
compatibility is (specifics in term of qualification and
quantification)? We could certainly define levels of compatibility,
set for each (major?) component. What has to be absolutely kept? What
can be ditched?

To simply state that it will break one's code is perhaps not enough
when a growing frustration in the community shows up. We should
definitively understand better what kind of need in terms of
compatibility our community has.

Could also this compatibility be simulated? Can we use text
transformation rules to update the code and thus ensure an easy
migration to newer image? Etc.


Ian.

-- 
http://mecenia.blogspot.com/



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